Seattle Part 1

I ventured up to Seattle for the first time! I took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend and figured if not now, when? Sometimes a mindset of 'seize the day' is all it takes for me to make decisions. It was an amazing trip that exposed me to a new city, new foods, new favorites, and new people. I'm ever so grateful to friends for giving me recommendations and showing me around to make it an awesome vacation. Also, thanks Seattle for only raining one of the days.

The best parts of the first day were the biscuit breakfast sandwich at Citizen and going up the single hill to Gas Works Park. Oh, I also cannot forget to mention that we made it a goal to try Palace Kitchen's burger after Zagat voted it the #1 burger in Seattle. Happy to have tried it as it was a decent burger but it wasn't very memorable.

citizen breakfast sandwich: homemade savory biscuit with an egg, white cheddar cheese, arugula, tomato, creme fraiche & ham

gas works park

tasting flight at fremont brewing company

palace kitchen burger royale: 1/2 pound chuck, dahlia bakery onion bun; fries

Ritual Coffee Roasters

Girl talk is sometimes so necessary. I spent the afternoon catching up with a friend at craftsman and wolves and ritual coffee roasters. Ritual just opened their new renovated space on valencia street and the inside is a bit too pristine. Too shiny and new. I like that they offer song tea though because it drives me crazy when cafes only offer coffee and I don't want to be up all night from drinking coffee late in the day. Song tea's wild mao feng tea was lovely.

craftsman and wolves: chilled corn soup

ritual coffee roasters

ritual coffee roasters: song tea wild mao feng

Eiji Part 2

The eggplant with walnut miso has been on my mind since I first went to Eiji a few months ago. I've recreated the dish at home but it's never been the same. I've been looking for an excuse to eat at Eiji again and was pumped to come here tonight. However the eggplant dish wasn't as good as last time and the chirashi bowl I ordered wasn't very good either.

After dinner, my friend and I went over to Cerveceria de MateVeza, the original location to WOODS Polk Station. I really enjoyed the brews at WOODS last time, particularly because I like cerveza + tea and when combined, even better! I was happy to find that the fantasma and beach comber beers were tasty as well. The fantasma is described as juicy and bright with the aura of strawberry sherbet, peaches and cream, and haunted by the spicy afternotes of a special saison yeast. I liked the beach comber more as it was tart, tangy, and fruity, and totally the tastes that I'm really digging lately.

Then we went to Thieves' Tavern for a few rounds of pool and though I lost, it turns out that I'm not as terrible at pool as I'd thought. Surprising I know. Fun night but I'm so ready for an alcohol detox.

Roam Artisan Burgers Part 3

After a few months of an absence of burgers in my life, I'm back on the burger train. Despite all the fancy burger options in SF, I still find myself coming back to Roam. There's just something about Roam that I really enjoy, particularly that there are options for a variety of toppings and even the meat patty. Where else can you get a bison or elk burger?! I branched out tonight and ordered a tejano burger with a bison patty. However, I should have stuck to my tried-and-true favorite, the french and fries, because I wasn't that into the tejano. I gave something different a try but now I know for sure to always go for the french and fries burger. Maybe I was just looking for that confirmation ;-) I also tried Roam's locally produced black currant kombucha on tap and it was tasty and refreshing.

tejano burger: pepper jack, jalapeno relish, avocado, tomato, white corn strips, herb ranch

Recipe: Caprese Skewers

Conflicted on what to make for a potluck park picnic, I went for simplicity. The challenges of cooking for potlucks is having to pick a dish that is portable, can feed many, and be tasty at room temperature. After much thought, I decided to make caprese skewers! I saw a photo of these online and knew it would be the perfect appetizer/salad to a park picnic, particularly because skewers make the perfect finger food. Also, with so much food that must all be tasted, I appreciate smaller portioned food. And look at how cute they are!

Caprese Skewers

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Serves ~26

Ingredients

1 cup balsamic vinegar

toothpicks

1 8-oz tub of fresh mini mozzarella balls aka ciliegine  (~26 balls)

handful fresh basil leaves, cut in half or fold in half if large

~26 cherry tomatoes

salt and pepper

Instructions
Bring balsamic vinegar up to a boil in a saucepan, then lower heat to medium and simmer until it's the consistency of very thin maple syrup, ~10 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let cool.
Thread a mini mozzarella cheese ball, basil leaf, and a tomato onto a toothpick.
Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drizzle cooled balsamic reduction on top.
Serve chilled (ok for up to 2 hours in the fridge) or at room temperature

Dusk

I'd forgotten how pretty the city can be at dusk.

Zero Zero

I never find myself craving pizza. Along with fried chicken, Italian food was one of those things that I didn't know could be so delicious. It wasn't until I went to Italy when I was shocked at how amazing fresh pasta and pizza could be. I grew up thinking Italian food was endless breadsticks at Olive Garden and pineapple pizza at Pizza Hut. I completely fell in love with authentic Italian food when I studied in Florence and yet, I never crave pizza because it's just so filling and I get bored by the bready crust and the same toppings on the whole pizza. Tonight, however, I set my mind on going to Zero Zero for dinner with a friend. I was craving fresh pasta and I'd heard this restaurant does a fantastic job. Upon walking into the restaurant, we were definitely glad we made reservations; it was busy! We sat upstairs and although it was only around 6:30pm, the bar scene was happening and I couldn't hear the music with all the noise.

To eat, we shared the radiatore pasta with veal shank "ossobuco", lacinato kale, marrow butter, and gremolata. When I get pasta at restaurants, I always order one that I wouldn't necessarily ever make at home. I loved the radiatore pasta shape (because obviously interesting pasta shapes definitely make it more fun to eat) and the richness from the marrow butter. We were conflicted on which pizza to order as they all sounded good, but decided on a vegetable-centric one to counter the rich pasta dish. We ordered the market pizza with pea tendril and basil pesto, summer squash, taggiasca olives, ricotta, caciocavallo, grana padana, fresh garlic, and chili flake. We went with the right choice because it was delicious, light, and made me realize I actually do like pizza. Well, pizza that has the right number of toppings and has a crust that is thin and not so bready.

But the true showstopper were the ricotta doughnuts. I thought the doughnuts at Wayfare Tavern was amazing but after having these at Zero Zero... WOW. They came to the table piping hot and I could see the steam rising after taking a bite. The ricotta gave the doughnuts the fluffiest texture. Zero Zero has a build-your-own-dessert menu so along with the doughnuts, we also got Straus vanilla soft-serve topped with olive oil and sea salt. My mind was blown with this combination. It was so decadent and delicious, it's amazing how ice cream and olive oil can actually taste so good together. I'd come here again just for the dessert. Left totally satisfied.